Discussion

A couple of random sightings this afternoon at what I will always think of as the "old new mall" (on the east side of Sawtelle north of Olympic):

1. At Nijiya Market, in amongst the azuki bars and frozen mackerel, some scattered pints of Massimo's Gelato, in vanilla, peach, and espresso flavors. Just a few, and so not clear to me if they are regularly carrying the stuff or it was a one-time trial. I have never seen Massimo's ice cream ANYWHERE except at Massimo's--are there, in fact, other stores around town that sell it, or is this an aberration?

2. Mousse Fantasy, the Japanese-French bakery, was closed, the windows papered up, and signs of remodeling inside. The signs and menu are still on the door, so it might be just a redecoration--it wouldn't be the first time for this longtime tenant, which was one of the very first of the new wave of modern Japanese places to land on Sawtelle, back when everyone else was serving teriyaki combos. It was probably the first place I experienced such yoshoku favorites as hamburger "moonraker" style, spaghetti with tarako and ika, and the hard-to-explain spaghetti omelette (which is served under a gigantic glop of a sauce somewhere between okonomiyaki sauce and Russian dressing). Does anyone have info?

mousse fantasty seemed to have an change in ownership over the past few years but i could be wrong, and it's the best joint in town for franco-japanese pastries outside of frances bakery in little tokyo.

also, in the past couple years mousse fantasy seemed to seriously scale back their hours, i remember them being open until midnight on the weekends but this is no longer the case now.

I was just there this weekend (I needed to pick up some Fresh Soba... the most awesome thing ever...) amnd not only was Mousse Fantasy closed for 'remodeling' there was a sign from the city scolding them for not having permits... So they might be having trouble with that...